Hasta La Ideas

This is by far my favorite Kickstarter find of the week. Faire Play invites you to ennoble your pampered plastic plaything and unleash her on some righteous quests. This campaign (pun intended) aims to bring you and your plastic friend a suit of creatively styled and well-fitting plate mail. Not the idiotic midriff baring, anatomically embossed armor of fantasy games, but the full-coverage cladding needed to decimate an enemy legion and come away the blood-soaked victor.

Let’s go shopping… for broadswords!

Creator Jim Rodda (or Zheng3) settled on this project when a My Little Pony glitter cannon for his niece got too involved. Previously known for creating a printable tabletop war game, I think he’s got the right chops for the task. And the demand for his carefully tailored line is high: less than 20% left to go at 20 days left. No wonder—who wouldn’t rather play Brienne of Tarth? Useless simpletons, that’s who.

As the inspiring pitch video shows, a fierce playroom defender is just a quick print away, and even dinosaurs don’t stand a chance. Check out the Kickstarter video:

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Evolving technologies have required the publishing industry to become a business of creative thinking. So, in her new publishing venture called Minor Matters, Michelle Dunn Marsh takes a page from Kickstarter…

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Ember Equipment is the name of a group of industrial designers with “deep experience and expertise in the design of technical soft-goods and equipment,” as they write. “We most especially love bad-ass backpacks.” That adjective perfectly suits their awesome Modular Urban Pack, which appears to be designed with indestructible, weatherproof hardware and provides the flexibility to add tailored modules that suit whatever you’re hauling. Take a look at the demo video of their two models, which are currently up on Kickstarter:

While consumers will ultimately be able to pick and choose options to build their own packs, for the MUP’s Kickstarter campaign there will be four pre-configured pack-builds on offer. Buy-in starts at US $209 for a “Minimalist” model and top out at $289 for their “Outfitter” pack loaded up with every gear option.

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What purpose does a library serve in a contemporary middle school? Beyond its broad definition as a place to read, relax, explore and discover, we also feel that educational spaces should be designed with the input and ideas from the users—the students themselves. Now, with the help of Studio H and Ms. Nini (Hallie Chen), a cohort of 108 eighth graders at Berkeley’s REALM Charter School have done exactly that, and they need your help to make the library of their dreams into a reality.

Besides the bookmarks, stamps and bags, the students have also designed an X-shaped unit of modular shelving, STAX, which is made of low-cost plywood and fabricated with CNC technology, courtesy of Autodesk’s Carl Bass. “You can do anything with STAX: you can make your new favorite shelf,” reads the project page on Kickstarter. “You can make supports for a table or legs for a bench. You can make a mile long wall if you want. Whatever you do with them, they’ll definitely be the coolest piece of furniture you own.”

Some of you may also remember that we last spoke to Pilloton during the release of If You Build It, a documentary about their previous project in North Carolina:

First launched in Bertie County, NC and now based at REALM Charter School in Berkeley, CA, Studio H students apply their core subject learning to design and build audacious and socially transformative projects. Students of Studio H have previously dreamed up, designed, and constructed a 2,000-square-foot farmers market pavilion, a pop-up park, laser-etched skateboards, sculptural concrete public furniture, roadside farmstands, and more. Through experimentation, non-stop production, tinkering, and a lot of dirt under their fingernails, students develop the creative capital, critical thinking, and citizenship necessary for their own success and for the future of their communities. Studio H is an initiative of the nonprofit Project H Design.

Check out the Kickstarter Project here

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We’ve all found ourselves banging out a rhythm with some produce or tapping the keys to an imaginary keyboard on a pile of books—right? Now music creativity has reached ingenious new heights with the Ototo, an all-in-one musical instrument invention kit from London-based…

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